Liberal Hall Society

Join and make a difference

In 1875, by train, stagecoach, mail-wagon through the valley and over the mountain, came young Duncan McMillan to Mt. Pleasant, Utah to the place he called, “the most lovely valley I ever beheld.” The postmaster in town befriended McMillan and told him of the need for a school in town. McMillan a trained educator and minister offered to teach and preach in the rural community. The newly erected “Liberal Dance Hall” became the first school and church. “I had no money and no resources and no backing,” wrote McMillian as he opened Wasatch Academy driven by faith.

The first major act of giving was when the final payment was due on Liberal Hall. Wasatch Academy was barely a year into operation. The final payment on the building was one day away. Duncan trudged to the post office but found nothing. Despondent, he started out of the building. The postmaster called, “Here’s a letter. It fell on the floor from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” When he returned home he opened the letter and a bank draft fell out from The Women’s Missionary Society of Cedar Rapids an amount that surpassed the final payment. 

Split-second happenings had brought the draft in time. A manager of the White Sewing Machine Company of Salt Lake City had told the Women’s Missionary Society of Cedar Rapids that Duncan’s Utah school might have to close. The women voted to send all their money to McMillan. The treasurer at home with a sick child insisted that her husband immediately get a bank draft even after bank hours. With a well-timed knock, the cashier answered and drafted the note. With the post office already closed for the day, the husband went directly to the train about to leave the station and posted the letter in the mail car. Because of the unexplained urgency of a group of women in Iowa Wasatch Academy survived its first year. 

In 1891, the school moved from Liberal Hall onto the present-day campus. On April 6, 1933, the towering Hungerford Hall which served as both the school and dormitory was destroyed by a fire. The generosity and planning of one woman saved the school. Years earlier a young girl named Alice heard stories of a school in Utah from a family friend, Duncan McMillan. Miss Alice Weakley Craighead passed away on April 21, 1933. She made Wasatch Academy a beneficiary of her estate. Her lasting gift allowed for the Craighead Humanities building, Alice Dorm, Learning Center, and two faculty houses to be built creating the foundation of our modern-day campus.

In honor of the first schoolhouse at Wasatch Academy, as well as all individuals who have made some provision in their estate plan benefiting the school, the Liberal Hall Society was founded in 2015.

The society's ongoing purpose is to acknowledge and thank like-minded individuals who endeavor to ensure that Wasatch Academy has the necessary means to consistently deliver an exceptional, world-class educational experience. Planned gifts can significantly bolster the endowment in order to help secure a sustainable future for Wasatch Academy.